Saturday, February 26, 2011

You may remember our post just before Christmas regarding this delightful door, and that in order to meet council regulations we must keep it shut for the time being. Despite it's awful appearance, and the fact that it makes us look closed, despite it being quite heavy and that it closes with a bang, usually frightening the uninitiated, most of our lovely customers have made it in anyway. But we have certainly being missing a few people who have thought we are closed or that it looks a bit intimidating, which is a shame because the shop is looking lovelier than ever. Some days this makes me very frustrated and a little cranky, so I decided this week I had to do something to make the door look a little more lovely.

So I patchworked it, what do you think?? I am quite pleased with my handy work, it certainly looks a little less institutional, I'll have to try and redo the signage tomorrow.

One of our lovely customers was interested in a green ribbon that we have sold out of, and I decide to take a few pictures of our range of green ribbons for her. As usual I got a bit carried away and ended up with pictures of all things green.

Lovely dark forest greens, all of these ribbons are French silk and are about 100 years old. They include from the top left a satin picot, moire, satin boarded mousseline, satin faille wide and similar satin in the centre. The old satins are not highly shiny, rather they have a wonderful deep delustred sheen.

This picture features more Victorian silk and also some younger silk and cotton grosgrains. Starting top left is a spectacular silk moire, extra wide and a beautiful soft green, next are mint and olive green grosgrains, next is a luscious green very fine grosgrain or possibly a faille and finally a lovely deep emerald green satin with undertones of brown created by different coloured warp and weft fibres.

These ribbons are generally rayon and date from the 1930s through to the 1950s approximately.

These ribbons are also dated 1930s -1950s and are also mostly rayon. The bottom ribbon has different coloured warp and weft, one is white and the other is green. The centre ribbon is a magnificent moire with a woven check boarder. The top ribbon is a luxurious heavy delustred satin. it has wonderful body and is one of the heaviest weight ribbons that we have seen.

Just for good measure, we have Valdani hand dyed 3 ply thread, in beautiful shades of green, solid colours and variegated.

Lovely piles of vintage stamens,

Gorgeous French and English vintage buttons,

Pretty pure cotton﻿ fabrics for various sewing projects

Millinery braids, Swiss straw and Italian trimming's.

Lots of shades of green in pure wool felt.

And beautiful muted shades in hand dyed, woven felts.

So don't forget to check our hours before visiting the store, and don't be put off by the beast of a door. Thank you for your patience and have a splendid weekend x﻿

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I have been in Sydney for a few days, sourcing lots of fabulous new stock for l'uccello. I managed to fit a little retail therapy in along the way. Mad as it may seem most of the things I bought are vintage trims, thread, buttons and ribbons.

Essential fuel for a shopping expedition, this fine looking coffee was at the Tropicana Caffe in Darlinghurst, they do great breakfasts too, just make it snappy when ordering.

First I headed to Paddington to Society Inc., what a fabulous store full of treasures vintage and new, I went a bit mad on these antique Indian trims, they are going to be perfect for a project that I am about to start. (PS if you are looking for somewhere great for dinner in Kings Cross/Potts Point, try Fratelli Fresh, delicious!)

Beautiful trims from Society Inc.

From there I went to Woolahra to visit No Chintz, they stock l'uccello Vintage Cutie Dolls, Vintage Sewing Collections and our line of Vintage buttons. Sadly the photo is too blurry. I really had to stop myself from picking the frangipani along the way, such beautiful perfume.

Then to Surry Hills and the fabulous David met Nicole store that stocks all sorts of wonderful vintage industrial and domestic items.

I just had to have these old French chemist boxes, the broken porcelain dolls are from early to mid 19th century, they were found in the ground where a doll shop had once been, and of course a few buttons.

Across the road is another great store Bird Textiles Emporium, they print all of their own designs on organic cotton, and make a range of clothing, soft furnishings and craft kits. I bought this one for my niece, it makes a cute little bird purse. The shop was for many years a chemist shop and still features the full set of original cabinetry, just lovely.

Then down the road and around the corner to Ici et la, Aladdin's cave full of rolls and rolls of French striped fabrics for furnishings and deck chairs, in the most divine colours. They also have all sorts of antique furniture and curios. They even have a few old buttons, ribbons and threads, of course I had to get some!

I also found a supplier of these beautiful antique African beads but that's a whole other story.....

On my way to the airport to come home I heard the terrible news coming from New Zealand, to our New Zealand readers we are thinking of you and hope you are ok. Our thoughts are with all of those concerned with this tragic and devastating event.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

So many new things have just arrived this post will have to be mostly pictures. It has been a great week so far with the completion of all the samples for our new seasons range of heat pillows, eye rest pillows and scented sachets and pillows. I haven't quite finished all the labeling and photos so we will post images later in the week. It is always very satisfying to see a new range after a long period of development, even more so to see them being carried off home by customers ready to provide comfort and relaxation.

We have had quite a few visitors lately who are readers of this blog, it's lovely to see who is at the other end of the line so to speak, and it is amazing how extensive the blogging community has become. So our thanks to everyone for taking the time to visit l'uccello either in person or via the blog, it's great to share a love of beautiful things with you.

On with the pictures, apologies I went a bit mad and there are quite a few.....

These fabulous boxes of antique French linen thread arrived today

﻿The only problem is they are totally complete and so gorgeous I don't think I can bring myself to break them up to sell, so I think they will have to become part of the l'uccello collection.

Even the ends of the boxes are great, I love these old fonts. These threads date from the 1940s and are in perfect condition, it's quite amazing.

﻿Fortuneately this packet isn't quite so lovely so I will be able to part with these beautifully packaged linen threads, great for collectors.

We placed our autumn/winter order for the divine Sophie Degard accessories this week, we have a few new pieces in store including this exquisite scarf. Great news, due to the strength of the Australian dollar the price has come down yayyyy!

We have a few pieces of these lovely old original sack cloths, they date from the 1940s. they are in very limited supply so if you are interested please ring or visit the store as soon as you can.

If you love this style of fabric then you will love this pattern book, lovely fresh designs that suit these vibrant patterns perfectly, in stock now.

They fun reproductions are also new arrivals, I'm mad for these perky 30s and 40s prints at the moment. Our next batch of bunting might have to include some of these.

If that's not your style you might love our new collection of mid weight French furnishing fabrics, great for cushions or light upholstery projects.